


A Sea of Verse

by lucidscreamer



Series: Sky and Sea [5]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Mermaid, Background Slash, Backstory, Drabble, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Former Human Yami, Gen, Inspired by Poetry, M/M, Mermaids, Merman Yami, Merman Yugi, Poetry, Prose Poem, Quoting poetry, Romance, Yami family feels, mention of Akhenaden, mention of Yami's mother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-26 00:37:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16671424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucidscreamer/pseuds/lucidscreamer
Summary: Delight sparkles in Yugi's eyes. He rewards Yami with a kiss, then breathes against Yami's lips, "...More?"





	A Sea of Verse

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. No ownership of the canon characters, settings, or events is claimed and none should be implied. "Sonnets from the Portuguese" written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
> 
> The merfolk culture in this series is the creation and sole property of Lucidscreamer. All rights reserved.

"'My own Beloved, who hast lifted me/ From this drear flat of earth where I was thrown...'"

Yugi's eyes widen. " _Poetry_?"

"Not mine!" Heat suffuses Yami's face. "I just... like to read it."

"But, _human poetry_ \-- That's wonderful! ...Um, you know _more_ , right?"

Shrugging, Yami feels the blush reaching his ears.

"Tell me!"

"'I lean upon thee, Dear, without alarm/ And feel as safe as guarded by a charm...'"

Delight sparkles in Yugi's eyes. He rewards Yami with a kiss, then breathes against Yami's lips, "...More?"

How can Yami resist? "'How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.'"

　

o0o

For the first time in his life, Yami is surrounded by people who don't merely appreciate his love of poetry, but _encourage_ it, even _share_ it. His began in the cradle. He has vague, treasured memories of his mother reciting verse in lieu of lullabyes and easing his way into dreams with Browning and Keats. As he grew, instead of Mother Goose or Grimm, Whitman and Hughes, Byron and Poe were his bedtime tales.

After, in Uncle's "care," poetry was verboten. Beloved books, all with his mother's loving notations in the margins, confiscated. Yami's own notebooks, filled with juvenile verse, burned. Contraband could never be concealed for long; somehow, Uncle always knew, so Yami learned to hide his verse in memory, silent recitals of unburnable books, well-safe in the vaults of his mind.

Now, his memory serves him again, this time as a gift freely offered to his new people. The Charm is enraptured, unfamiliar with almost any poet more recent than Shakespeare, and Yami basks in their enthusiastic reception. He gladly recites all that he knows and, reserves eventually depleted, begins once more to compose.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Credits:
> 
> Poems quoted in the drabble are all by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, from "Sonnets from the Portuguese". In order: Sonnet 27, Sonnet 24, and Sonnet 43.
> 
> The double meaning of "charm" here is entirely intentional on Yami's part, though it is, of course, not in the original verse.


End file.
